The ancient view that the spinal cord is a nerve-like prolongation of the brain received experimental support from Galen, who showed that by cutting the cord transversely, sensation from the body below the level of the cut was lost, as was motor power – effects mimicking those seen when cutting a peripheral nerve (Chapter 2). Even as late as the seventeenth century, Descartes looked on the cord as only a conduit for nerve tubules passing sensation to the brain, where reflexes are controlled (Figure 5.5). But, study of the decapitated animal indicated that reflexes remained present in the spinalized animal, with its purposive-like behavior leading to the hypothesis that some mind-like principle was present in the cord. As the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system became better understood, aided in large part by the discovery of the Bell-Magendie law in the early part of the nineteenth century, the question was then asked whether mind-like behavior could be accounted for by the complex interconnectivity of neurons in the spinal cord. This question was also raised with respect to the instinctive behavior seen in lower forms and the emergence of higher functions in the course of evolution. The development of the brain with centers for higher functions of learning and memory; in man ideation; caused the lower centers of the spinal cord to become more machine-like in its reflex behavior.